Nuance Dragon Dragon NaturallySpeaking Home 13 (Old Version)

I was an IT manager/Unix geek on Wall St for 25 years. The install for this product is one of worst I have ever experienced. It failed a few times, then proceeded, taking about 30 minutes to install all of the files. Various other issues with tutorial. Then came the software performance, which was abysmal. I followed all the profile suggestions, then tested it with the quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog. The software was not able to reproduce the sentence even ONCE properly after many tries. Could not get the word quick until I taught the software the word. I tried various other readings, etc using both the built in microphone on my laptop as well as the included microphone. There were far too many errors, about 30-40%, Some words were so far off they were laughable. Slow as a turtle as well. My wife tried as well, total fail. We are both educated, articulate people, no speech issues. This software is simply not worth the effort, not ready for prime time. More effort correcting than typing would be. If you are totally disabled this may be a choice but it will be very frustrating. I am returning the product, dont bother ordering.

Ive been a Dragon user for years, so - when the new release came out - I purchased it and upgraded. It has been a disappointment -- the new Dragon bar at the top of the screen expands whenever I scroll near it, and I find the software is a lot less responsive online (I grade papers in Google Classroom, and the new version has a very difficult time recognizing online documents as text fields). After a few frustrating hours of trying to make it work, I uninstalled and tried to roll back to version 12. Unfortunately, I needed to then do a clean install and cant find the disk. I went to Nuance, figuring since I registered the product I should be able to download a clean copy and reinstall but they have no download area, and wanted me to send them ten bucks for a replacement disk. So, looks like Im moving over to Google voice to text... a real shame, after some six years of using Dragon.

Im NOT at all sorry I bought this. The concept is exciting. I will say that theres a lot more to it than meets the eye, though. Let me explain: Im 80+, long since retired, with stiff fingers, and some other issues. My learning curve has slowed down, and there is much to learn to make Dragon fully functional. However, I have had it up an running for about two weeks or so, and Im impressed. Im using it as a kind of overlay, within which I call up my email systems, Amazon, MS Word, and verbally have them do something for me on screen. Currently, Im playing around with transcribing into a recorder [Olympus-722-PC], thence to the Dragon mic. Its still a little weird to see what I say pop up on screen, though. I would add the most of the really negative responses were earlier versions, and for inadequate computer systems I have a 2.1 micropressor, and I thhink it is a bit slow. I upped my RAM from 3 to 6, and am having no discernable problem with speed of processing. [Im slow, too

This was sad for me as I have to have something to help with my computer for me to enjoy. I also am a moderator and typing is very hard for me. I just wish it was better but everything works but the mike for the software and I dont know whats wrong

Unlike others I dont type 100 wpm so VR has been the holy grail for me. After reading a glowing review I was so excited abt getting Dragon 13. What I didnt realize is that you cant use it with any other software programs other than Windows related ones or easily with web browsers. (Just found out thiisnt even true!) I primarily bought it to use with Nolo willmaker which Ive been putting off...but now cant use. I called tech support and even he felt bad for me, lol. He told me to return it but it isnt possible. And PLEEEEASE its a nightmare to use unless you enjoy having a manual next to you while your trying to use it. I have ADD so concentrating is a bit difficult and I thought it would be so much easier to speak my thoughts but with each sentence I have to figure out how to issue about 10 commands. Its also soooo slowwww. I type faster when I hunt and peck. OK, after reading other reviews by longtime competent users who are still frustrated I dont feel as bad but Im stll so dissappointed that my slow typing is actually easier. It seems the Voice Recognition Id hoped for is still out of my reach. Ps I JUST FOUND OUT THAT DRAGON 13 WILL NOT WORK WITH WINDOWS 7!!! So now I can only dictate text into their text box...this was a total waste. I guess theyre working with Microsoft to force you to upgrade!!

EDITED_It is working now. It took a total of 6 hours and deleting and reinstalling it three times for it to finely work. Good product just way to difficult to get to work. I suggest 1 it needs to take less then 4 gb of space and it needs to load faster. I think this product could be better. IT IS NOT WORKING. After five hours of fighting with this it is not working. My mic works. My mic works on the computer. I hear my self from the mic. I go through the dang profile thing and when it says to test your mic and I go to turn on Dragons button it stays red and not green. It will not work.

I have Amazon prime. Took two days to get here. I bought the Dragon naturally speaking home edition. Im using it now to write this review. It comes with its own microphone so no additional KOSS CS 100 microphone is needed to be bought. This one works just fine. I got KOSS CS 100. Its useless to me right now because I have a laptop with only a connection for ear plugs. My laptop does not have the insert for a Mic. It has a built-in mic. The mic that comes with the Dragon home edition is just fine. It took 45 minutes to the city to install it. You have to turn off the firewall. Once it is installed, you can turn the firewall back on. I like the program. So far so good. Ive given four star. This is not a perfect programT There are some mistakes. But, since I have only used it for an hour I hope that with time it becomes better. I have already gone to the Dragon site and registered that does not take. Hopefully, this has helped you all to decide whether to buy it or not. I say go for it. What you have to lose $34? Its a fun toy.

I am in the process of writing a book and am a horrible typist. So its taking forever. I stumbled upon this software while reading some writing blogs. I almost didnt buy it because of the negative reviews but I figured, for the price, why not? I purchased the disk version, used an external optical reader to load it on to my computer and it worked out of the box, as advertised. I was afraid I was going to have problems getting it loaded because it took literally 10 full minutes before it started installing. Perhaps people are just aborting the process when it appears to lock up? I went through a couple of screens with the install wizard before it appeared to freeze but I just left it alone and it eventually loaded with no problem. Of course, I have a newer computer so that may make a difference. I have had no problem getting it to work at all and the accuracy is exceptional. Certainly far better and quicker than anything I could produce. I have a relatively neutral accent and am a public speaker so I do tend to speak and enunciate my words clearly. I only use Dragon for Word to work on the book; I did not load it onto my browser. My productivity has gone up exponentially! I am not using the headset that came with the box; instead I am using a $60 Microsoft headset I bought off Amazon a while back. Using the headset makes working on my book as mobile as working on my laptop - even when dictating while at my sons baseball practice, the headset did not pick up anything other than my voice (not the music, coaches, kids or external sound). I did let the program peruse other documents, including my current book draft, so that it could learn my writing style and pick up some vocabulary words. Between that and reading the passage that Dragon provides to train the program, it took all of 10 minutes to train. I went back and forth on whether to get the home or premium version. For my needs, this home version is perfect because Im not going to use this for Excel, nor am I going to use an external voice recorder. Finally, I began practicing law over 20 years ago and always used dictation (because I couldnt type) so relearning dictation commands hasnt been difficult. Dragon comes with a cheat sheet to help you while you learn the commands. Ill keep it with me till I learn everything and then store it away. If youre thinking about purchasing this program, Id say go for it. For the price of a family meal at a restaurant, its a relatively low risk investment.

It works. Sometimes, it takes a while for it to start especially if it has been idle.

Had some serious stability problems with version 11.0 when it worked it worked GREAT but would do things unbidden and lost data so stop using it -Have not used version 13 much but Dragon seem to have cured the stability problems of 11.0 - Controls / pull downs / commands are different and will probably get used to them with more practice - Still cant get out of the habit of backing up on up three different files every few lines and then having to reread EVERYTHING each time because of problems with 11.0 which sometimes would make a change to a document file which would go unnoticed (some times working on page 20 and unbidden change occurred on page 1 !) and if backed up on only one file errors picked up after a back up were sometimes irrecoverable